Quite Iced
by Sierra Sitruc
Summary: So, I needed to write an LJ fic, because I hadn't done a new one since the new canon came out. I made my friend give me an idea and...well. James gets himself stuck in an ice cube. Literally. One-shot.


**Disclaimer**: I know I don't own the characters, thank you very much.

**Author's Note**: I DID NOT COME UP WITH THE...AHEM main idea of the ice cube, it was alllllll '**A Rose By Any Other Name**'. She made up something for me to write about, because I asked her to. I don't know if she really thought I'd do it...But I did.

Also...Lily's a bit out of character. Eh. But I had fun.

**Summary: **So, I needed to write an LJ fic, because I hadn't done a new one since the new canon came out. I made my friend give me an idea and...well. James gets himself stuck in an ice cube. One shot.

And it's Lily's POV, because I thought I needed practice with first person perspective.

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**Quite Iced**

_by_

> _Sierra Sitruc_

It was supposed to be a normal day in Transfiguration. We were learning how to interchange elements. Today it was water into fire. We were learning how to change the three stages of water into fire. Professor McGonagall had brought in water into the room for us and each of us had a tin of water at our desk.

I wasn't sure if I was displeased or not when James Potter asked to partner up with me. He'd been much more..._tolerable_ this year than the six years before. Not to mention he's good at Transfiguration, but then again, I don't want to look like an idiot in front of him. It's actually pretty hard to look like an idiot in front of him, because he makes himself look so much the idiot that I don't have a chance to make a fool of myself, or when I _ am_ being daft, he makes it better by joking about it.

One of his few good qualities, actually.

Alright, that would be a lie. He has many..._good_ qualities. God I can't believe I just admitted to that, but it's true. James can be quite...Nice, when he's not trying to impress me. When he wipes that smug look of his face, he looks a lot better too. Not so much egotistical as confident. Don't tell him I said that.

Professor McGonagall was eyeing James and his friends carefully as we started the lesson. With good reason. I don't blame the woman, those boys have been causing hell in this class for as long as we've had it. If it wasn't charming objects to do vulgar things, it was to get them to _say_ vulgar things and on some occasions it would end with a student in the Hospital Wing with something incorrectly colored or shaped on their body.

I've begun to notice that Remus and Peter are the cover men, while Sirius and James pull off the plot. Sometimes I get the feeling Remus gives them the ideas; the brains behind the operation if you will. But he'd never own up to it.

Right now, Remus and Sirius are paired up together. Their heads are close together and they're whispering about something while McGonagall talks. I can feel an accident coming on...Maybe I shouldn't call it an accident, as I'm very, very, very, very sure that it will be done on purpose.

"Class, I want you to take your wands and..." For some reason, her voice is more droning than usual. I let my gaze drift to James, who is (thankfully) paying attention, that way I can just watch him do the spell first and than I can copy him. His eyes look very attentive as he watches McGonagall, suddenly those nice hazel eyes flicker to mine and I look away.

I felt myself flushing, hell on wheels! I'd been caught staring...Not for the first time either. Soon enough James will be catching on to my...fancying him, and I will never, ever live it down.

Oh, sure, he's asked me out plenty of times, but do you think he was actually _serious_? I don't. Sometimes I think he truly likes me, but then he'll make some crude comment about my 'nice arse' and the thought will be broken. I've decided guys are too simple for us complex females to figure out.

When it came to the actual physical part of transfiguring the water, I was nervous. I glanced to my right, where Sirius and Remus were sitting and watched what they were doing. They seemed intent on their tins of water, so I looked to mine.

I studied the water, contemplating how to go about making it turn to fire. I really should have paid attention, I realized belatedly. I would probably end up asking James, but before I did so, I watched him transfigure his water easily into fire.

"Nice, James." I said, watching the orange colored fire burn about in the tin, he transfigured it back into water and looked at me.

"Aren't you going to do it?" He asked, nodding at my own tin of water. I twitched nervously.

"Um...Well, you see..." I looked away, feeling a sudden chill come from behind me. I whirled around to see Remus and Sirius muffling their laughter behind their hands, I touched my hair and checked my clothes before glaring at them and turning back to face James.

James...was not as I had left him last.

"Oy, James! You're an ice cube!" I squeaked out, quite unintelligently.

"Correction, my dear Miss Evans, he's IN an ice cube." Sirius laughed, coming to stand beside me. McGonagall was at her desk and had failed to notice the giggling that was spreading around the room.

The ice cube was a perfect square, no doubt Remus the perfectionist's work. It had James entirely incased in ice, save for his nose and up. He was glaring daggers at his best friends.

"He'll freeze to death! Get him out!" I hissed, praying McGonagall didn't notice. The two boys looked between each other, a conversation going on that I couldn't understand.

"_MISTER_ POTTER! GET OUT OF THAT ICE CUBE, _ IMMEDIATELY_!" McGonagall was suddenly shouting, I cowered behind James the Ice Cube. Her face was very red, and her hands were shaking as she marched her way over to us. _Would she kill him?_

I opened my mouth to say something, but I didn't know what I was supposed to be saying when one's crush is an ice cube and you weren't paying attention to the lesson that taught you how to change him back.

"Um, Professor, I don't think James turned himself into ice cube boy." A Ravenclaw boy spoke up hesitantly.

"Oh, I know that Patil!" McGonagall growled, tapping the ice that incased James. "Who did this!?"

"I don't know, Professor." I found myself saying, "I looked at him and he was normal, the next...well...You can see how he looks."

"Poor boy, he must be _freezing_." She clucked her tongue, James' head began to make slight movements, that we believed showed he was, indeed, freezing.

It occurred to me, that McGonagall may just be enjoying this a bit too much, because if she wasn't, if she was _really_ sorry for him, wouldn't she have undone it already?

She waited a moment more, before lifting her wand, muttering a spell, causing the ice cube to disappear, but James was soaked and his teeth were chattering. His lips were blue, I noticed. (Of course, it's not just because I like fantasizing about his lips that I was looking at them, it's because they were blue! I was supposed to look at them!)

"T-thanks, P-professor Mc-McGonagall." He stuttered out, I went to him, without a thought and began rubbing his arms to warm him up. Taking his hands in mine and holding them (to spread warmth!).

Class was nearly over, McGonagall dismissed us without collecting participation point, which was just lucky for me, because I had never finished transfiguring that damn water into fire.

As we walked down to lunch, I was beside my friend Nadia and we listened to the boys in front of us talk.

"Next time, we'll have to do that when you're doing something _interesting_! Like scratching your balls." Sirius cackled, hitting the still freezing James on the back.

"If you guys do that AGAIN, I will see to it that you are frozen to _each other_, in a position that will make the entire school question your sexualities." James threatened darkly.

Remus and Sirius, who had been laughing, shut up.

James shivered, "Hell, I need to change out of these clothes, I can't go through lunch like this...I'll see you guys in a bit." He grinned at me as he passed, and I felt my insides turn into goo.

Nadia grinned at me, "He totally fancies you back, I don't see why you can't just tell him you reciprocate."

"James? Oh, he does not! He may think I'm pretty, but he'd never want a relationship with me, and that's what I'm looking for. I don't want to be just another girl he can brag about to his friends." I said carefully, glancing back to James' fading form behind us.

"He's not like Sirius, he's well...He's calmed down this past year, I think maybe he could be looking to settle down too." She said encouragingly.

I didn't feel any more confident about his returned feelings.

---

That night, James was sick.

He wasn't one to stay up in his dorm though, he sat near the fire doing his homework, sniffling and sneezing and coughing. It was quite the sight.

I blamed his friends, but for their part, they apologized for giving him the 'Cold Treatment'. He'd thrown a snotty tissue at them.

"I should turn their pricks into popsicles." I heard him muttering to himself, while scratching away at an essay. I decided, that now might be a good time to bring up some of the Head Boy and Girl duties we had to deal with that month. Okay, in reality, this was a very bad time to approach him, but I wanted to talk to James and that was the best reason I had.

"Not a bad idea." I said, sitting beside him. He looked up at me, his boyish face lighting up when he saw me, or maybe that was just my imagination. "How're you feeling?" I asked gently.

James harrumphed. "M'fine. Not sick, no matter what it looks like."

I snorted, taking my hand and pressing it to his forehead, a very obvious excuse to touch him. He allowed me to mother him, "You have a fever."

"I do not, the fire's just warming me up." He protested, while I cunningly scooted closer to him.

"Don't be such a stubborn toad." I scolded, "You should go see Madame Pomfrey." I said, wishing I could kick myself in the head for suggesting he leave, but I can't bend that way.

"She doesn't like me...Whenever Remus' in there, we apparently cause 'too much raucous' for her patients, and she banned me once! For a week! And that was the week I got that green dye on my face..."

I giggled, "I remember that, you looked like you were a constant state of sea sickness."

"I'm glad somebody found it funny." But James was smiling now, "So what'd you need, Lily?"

"Oh...Uh," I couldn't remember what I had originally made up to come over here for, "To see how you were." It was true, wasn't it?

James looked at his unfinished essay and then back at me, "Lily? Can I ask you something?"

"Sure." I replied, feeling bubbly anticipation in my stomach.

"Do you fancy me?"

Did he have to be so _blunt_? Well, if he was going to be blunt, I could be as well, "Your pants off." I mumbled, feeling my face flame.

James threw his head back and laughed, "I knew I'd win you over some day." He said, leaning closer.

"You had me the whole time, I was just being stubborn." I answered, sticking my chin up at him. "And if you kiss me, you die, because I don't like being sick."

He pulled back. "I can wait..." He paused, his eyes glinting mischievously, "Until Sirius and Remus give YOU the Cold Treatment, so you can join me in sickness."_ And in health?_ I found myself adding.

I learned half an hour later, courtesy of Sirius Black's spell work, that being surrounded by an ice cube is really quite refreshing when followed by a round of snogging, courtesy of James Potter.

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**End Author's Note:** Well, I'm certainly churning out the stories this week. All short little things, especially this one, but at least it's Lily and James, it's been forever since I wrote a one shot for them. I missed them! Review! Feedback makes me happy.

Would you believe I named it "Quite Iced" because I wanted a title with a 'q'?


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